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Sunday, April 13, 2011

The Fifth Sunday of Lent
Good Shepherd Lutheran
Denver, Colorado
Pastor Dena Williams

John 11:1-45

Life for Lazarus

It is the Fifth Sunday of Lent.

Next Sunday is Palm Sunday, also the Sunday of the Passion.
The following Sunday is Easter.
We have heard the story of Jesus in the wilderness.
In the night, we listened to the questions of Nicodemus.
We met the Samaritan woman at the well.
Last Sunday, we sat by the road with the man born blind.
Today we hear the story of Lazarus from the Gospel of John.

Jesus was tempted.

Nicodemus was confused.
The Samaritan woman was uncertain, searching.
The man by the road had been born blind.
Today, things get really serious.
Today, with the story of Lazarus, death enters the picture.

Temptation, confusion, uncertainty, blindness are one thing;

death is quite another.

Hear the story.

Jesus leaves the country of Judea.

Some of the people there threatened to stone him because
of his claim to be The Son of God.
He crosses over the River Jordan with his disciples,
to a safer place.

Jesus leaves some friends behind in Judea, in the village of

Bethany.
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He was often the guest of Lazarus and his sisters Mary and
Martha.
Soon after Jesus leaves, his friend Lazarus falls ill.
Mary and Martha fear that he will die,
they send a message to Jesus, across the Jordan River.
“Lord, your friend whom you love, is ill.”

When Jesus hears the message, he says,

“This is not an illness that leads to death.
It is, rather, for God’s glory.
The Son of Man will be glorified by it.”

Now, though Jesus loves Martha and her sister and Lazarus,
after he hears that Lazarus is ill,
he stays two days longer on the other side of the Jordan.

WONDER WHY?!

After those two days, he says to the disciples,

“Let’s go to Judea again.”
The disciples say to him,
“Teacher, some of the people there tried to stone you.
Are you really going there again?”

Jesus answered,
“Are there not twelve hours of daylight?
Those who walk during the day do not stumble,
because they see the light of this world.
Those who walk at night stumble,
because the light is not in them.”
Jesus knows that his days on this earth are short.
He knows that he must be about his work while it is still day,
even if that work takes him to Judea.

Then Jesus says,

“Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going there to
awaken him.”

The disciples reply:

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“Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will be all right without you.

His sisters can awaken him.”

Jesus is really been speaking about the death of Lazarus,

but the disciples think he means that Lazarus is merely
asleep.

He knows that the disciples do not understand,

so he says to them simply and plainly,
“Lazarus is dead.
I am glad, for your sake,
that I was not there when he died.
You may come to believe after all.
Let’s go to him.”

Thomas, the disciple called The Twin,

says to the other disciples,
“We may as well go with Jesus to Judea,
even though we will surely die there with him.”

EYEORE!

When Jesus arrives,

he hears that Lazarus has already been in the tomb for four
days.
The village of Bethany, where Lazarus lived,
is only about two miles from Jerusalem.
Many of their Jewish friends from Jerusalem
have come to be with Martha and Mary,
to comfort them at their brother’s death.
When Martha, the practical sister,
the one who got things done,
when she hears that Jesus is coming,
she goes and meets him.
Mary, the thoughtful, more patient sister,
waits at home.

When Martha sees Jesus she says to him in her direct,

no nonsense manner,
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“Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.
Even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of
him.”
Martha, grieving for her brother,
but full of faith,
did not give up hope.
Jesus says to her,
“Your brother will rise again.”
Martha says to him,
“I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last
day.”
Jesus says to her,
“I am the resurrection and the life.
Those who believe in me,
even though they die, will live,
and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.
Do you believe this, Martha?”
Martha says to him,
“Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah,
the Son of God, the one who has come into the world.”

Martha goes back to the house and calls her sister Mary.
She takes her aside and says to her,
“The Teacher is here and is calling for you.”
When Mary hears that,
she gets up quickly and goes to Jesus.
Now Jesus had not yet come into the village,
but was still at the place outside of town where Martha met
him.

The Jewish friends who are with Mary in the house,

consoling her,
see her get up quickly and go out.
They follow her because they think she is going to
the tomb to weep there and they do not want her to go
alone.

When Mary comes to where Jesus is,

she sees him and she falls at his feet and speaks,
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“Lord, if you had been here,

my brother would not have died.”
When Jesus sees that she is crying
and that the friends who came with her are also crying,
he is upset and troubled in spirit,
he is deeply moved by their grief.
Jesus asks,
“Where have you laid him?”
They say to him,
“Lord, come and see.”
Jesus begins to cry.
The friends say,
“See how much he loved Lazarus.”
Some of the friends speak,
“He opened the eyes of the man born blind,
a man he did not even know, a beggar.
Couldn’t he have kept this man, his much loved friend, from
dying?”

Then when Jesus comes to the tomb,

he is very disturbed and sad and crying.
The tomb is a cave and a stone is lying against it in the
opening.
Jesus speaks,
“Take away the stone.”
Martha, ever practical,
not one to lose her head in a crisis,
says, “Lord, his body has been in there for four days,
there will be a terrible stench!”

I AM SUCH A MARTHA!

Jesus says to Martha,

“Have I not told you before,
that if you believed,
you would see the glory of God?”

So they take away the stone.

Jesus looks upward and speaks,
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“Father, I thank you for having heard me.

I know that you always hear me,
but I have said this for the benefit of the crowd standing
here,
so that they may believe that you sent me.”

Then he cries with a loud voice,

“Lazarus, come out!”
The dead man comes out of the tomb.
His hands and his feet are bound with strips of cloth.
His face is wrapped in a cloth.
Jesus tells the people,
“Unbind him, and let him go.”

Many of the Jewish friends,

came with Mary
saw what Jesus did.
They believed in him.

I hope that we have really heard this story.

We will need it over the next couple weeks.
We will call on it to sustain us as we continue our Lenten
journey.
Next Sunday we will hear the story of Jesus’ arrival in
Jerusalem.
We will hear the story of our Lord’s death.

On Maundy Thursday,
we will share the Lord’s Supper, his last supper, in word and
deed.
On Good Friday, the most solemn day of our church year,
we will remember our Lord’s death and burial.
We will need the story of Lazarus,
a story of hope and life,
to sustain us as we walk with our Lord.

Easter will come.

There will be many among us that morning who have not
walked through Lent with us and with our Lord,
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those who will not be present over the next two weeks to
hear the difficult story of suffering and death.

THE C AND E ERS!

We will welcome them into our community.

We will share the love of Christ with them.
We will come to the table together with them.
We will not judge them,
because we will have walked through Lent.
We will remember that Jesus came to give life for all,
that he did not distinguish between insiders and outsiders.
He brought life for all,
not just for his beloved friend Lazarus,
but for Nicodemus,
for the Samaritan woman,
for the man born blind.

Just as Jesus brings life for all,

we will welcome all people who come to hear the good news
of the Gospel,
the good news of God’s love.
We will extend a gracious welcome in Jesus’ name.
Why?
Why would we do that?
Why would we welcome people we hardly know with joy and
thanksgiving for their presence among us?
Why?
Because Jesus welcomes us
and calls us to welcome all people in his name.
Jesus brings life for all!
Amen